7 Malaysian teams vie for top spots at Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2017 - We did very well in 2016, let's hope for more from our students this year!

120 Shell Eco-marathon student teams from Asia, the Middle East and Australia will be competing on the track in Singapore from March 16 – 19, 2017 in order to see who has designed and built the most energy efficient vehicle for the track. Their efforts will culminate in the Shell Eco-marathon Drivers’ World Championship Asia.

Shell Eco-marathon is a unique, global competition that challenges students to push the boundaries of energy efficiency on the road. There are three regional Shell Eco-marathon competitions held throughout the year in Asia, America and Europe. The competition provides an arena for students to test vehicles they design and build themselves. It aims to inspire young people to become scientists and engineers of the future.

It first began in 1939 at a Shell research laboratory in the United States as a friendly wager between scientists to see who could get the most miles per gallon from their vehicle. In 1985, in France, Shell Eco-marathon as we now know it was born. In April 2007, the Shell Eco-marathon Americas event was launched in the United States, and in 2010, the inaugural Shell Eco-marathon Asia was held in Malaysia, up until 2013. The event was held in Manila, Philippines from 2014 to 2016 and moves to Singapore as part of the Make the Future festival for the first time in 2017.

The 2017 Shell Eco Marathon Teams

Team Name	School Name	Vehicle Name	Vehicle Category	Energy Source
Eco-Chaser	Monash University	Eco-Ficient	Prototype	CNG (Compressed Natural Gas)
Team Monash UC	Monash University	Ursa	Urban Concept	CNG (Compressed Natural Gas)
Grüne Welt	Multimedia University Melaka Campus (Mmu)	Eco-V5	Prototype	Battery Electric
Uitm Eco-Planet	Universiti Teknologi Mara (Uitm), Shah Alam	Hornet	Urban Concept	Hydrogen
Uitm Eco-Sprint	Universiti Teknologi Mara (Uitm), Shah Alam	Chantenk	Prototype	Hydrogen
Genesis Utar	Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman	Gt-30	Prototype	Battery Electric
Eco-Voyager	University Of Malaya	Evora	Prototype	Hydrogen

Seven teams from five universities will represent Malaysia – Monash University Malaysia; Multimedia University; Universiti Malaya; Universiti Teknologi MARA; Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman. Four out of the seven teams competing this year emerged winners at the 2016 competition (it looks like our engineering students are quite good actually!) and will reprise their roles in representing Malaysia.

This year, the competition will be a part of Make The Future Singapore, a four day festival of ideas and innovation in Asia. More information on Make The Future Singapore as well as the Malaysian team details can be found in the attached release below.

For your information, last year's Malaysian winners were two teams from UiTM (1st for Prototype hydrogen car and 1st for Urbanconcept hydrogen car categories), University Malaya (came in second in the Prototype hydrogen car category behind UiTM above) and Monash University (1st in the CNG (compressed natural gas) category). 

I wish them all the best for this year and hope they make us prouder than we are of them. Well, I am anyway.

*photos are from last year's competition

PRESS RELEASE

7 Malaysian teams vie for top spots at Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2017

• 56 students from some of the nation’s best universities compete with hundreds of bright minds from Asia, Middle East and Australia starting March 16 – 19 in Singapore
• Shell continues its efforts to discover, celebrate, and support young Malaysian innovators in the field of science, technology, engineering and energy

KUALA LUMPUR, 9 March 2017 – Over 120 student teams from across Asia, Middle East and Australia will be heading to Singapore to put their self-built fuel-efficient vehicles to the test this month at the Asia leg of Shell Eco-marathon (SEM) 2017.

Representing the country this year are seven (7) teams from five universities – Monash University Malaysia; Multimedia University; Universiti Malaya; Universiti Teknologi MARA; Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman. Four out of the seven teams competing this year emerged winners at the 2016 competition and will reprise their roles in representing Malaysia, casting the limelight once again on the country for producing some of the youngest innovative talents in science, technology, engineering and energy.

Shell Eco-Marathon is a key platform for youths to develop and showcase their talents in science, technology, engineering, and energy fields. It also serves as an avenue for the region’s youngest and brightest to discover new ways of bringing their ideas to live through creative business, marketing, and communications approaches.

Colin Chin, Shell Eco-marathon (SEM) Asia Technical Director said, “SEM is a platform for talented young innovators from different countries to design, build, and power the most energy efficient vehicle through various energy types, including new energy sources such as hydrogen, GTL, and battery electric. The inaugural SEM Asia was held in Malaysia in 2010. Year after year, we see Malaysian students showcase immense creative talent in building energy efficient vehicles that could very well be the future of our automotive industry. This year, we have seven teams from the age of 18-25 representing the country –showcasing the potential of our future engineers! On behalf of Shell Malaysia, I wish them all the very best. I know they will make us proud!”

The 2017 Shell Eco Marathon Teams

Team Name	School Name	Vehicle Name	Vehicle Category	Energy Source
Eco-Chaser	Monash University	Eco-Ficient	Prototype	CNG (Compressed Natural Gas)
Team Monash UC	Monash University	Ursa	Urban Concept	CNG (Compressed Natural Gas)
Grüne Welt	Multimedia University Melaka Campus (Mmu)	Eco-V5	Prototype	Battery Electric
Uitm Eco-Planet	Universiti Teknologi Mara (Uitm), Shah Alam	Hornet	Urban Concept	Hydrogen
Uitm Eco-Sprint	Universiti Teknologi Mara (Uitm), Shah Alam	Chantenk	Prototype	Hydrogen
Genesis Utar	Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman	Gt-30	Prototype	Battery Electric
Eco-Voyager	University Of Malaya	Evora	Prototype	Hydrogen

2016 Shell Eco-Marathon Malaysian Team winners.

1. Team UiTM Eco-Sprint from UiTM Shah Alam scored a hat-trick emerging as champions in the Prototype Hydrogen Fuel Cell category for the third year in a row, with another record-breaking mileage of 476 km/m3.

2. The UiTM Eco-Planet ranked first place in the UrbanConcept Hydrogen Fuel Cell category for 3 times. The innovative team debuted a 3-D printed car that was assembled from 120 individually-printed parts, with each part taking approximately 10 hours to complete.

3. Team Eco-Voyager from Universiti Malaya (UM) were runners-up for the Prototype Hydrogen Fuel Cell category, recording a mileage of 244km/m3 and improvement over their previous year’s performance.

4. Team Eco-Chaser from Monash University Malaysia won first prize in the Prototype Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) category with a mileage of 95km/l, the approximate equivalent of driving from Kuala Lumpur to Port Dickson on just one (1) litre of fuel.

For the first-time ever, this year’s Shell Eco-marathon forms part of a larger Make the Future Singapore festival of ideas and innovation for Asia. The public event will feature bright energy ideas and solutions that address the global energy challenge, ie how to meet the energy demands of the future, while producing less CO2 emissions.

Three interactive zones – ‘Our Energy Future’, ‘On the Move’ and ‘Live, Work, Play’ – will be showcased at Make the Future Singapore grounds. Through virtual reality and hands-on interaction, visitors will be able to explore what goes into powering our cities and the world today, and have first-hand view of what the future of energy might look like, from renewable energy to natural gas and low-carbon technologies. They will also learn about bright energy ideas from around Asia, and have their festival experience completed with performances by renowned local and international celebrities in action.

For more information on Make the Future Singapore and to register for free priority tickets to the event, please visit www.shell.com.sg/makethefuturesg. 

                       

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